Ca$h

Con-trick films are a well-worn genre: perhaps almost every one of them recalls 'The Sting', while the ending of 'Cash' brings to mind superior efforts like Mamet's 'House of Games' or my personal favourite, Fabian Bielinsky's 'Nine Queens'. But the particular story of a glamorous investigator on the trail of an equally glamorous criminal reminded me most of 'The Thomas Crown Affair', even before the use of split-screens, surely an act of intentional homage. The movie's glamorous portrayal of smoking also seemed like a gesture to another era. But unlike the best films of its type, there's no deep character study here. The film is entirely lightweight, and even has comedy music to underscore its critical moves. The result is fun and lavish, but also utterly shallow, and none of the developments really take you by surprise as nothing is really credible even before the under-layers are revealed. Even as a comedy-thriller, it's lacking substance and it's hard to care about any of the protagonists. It is mildly entertaining, but devoid of any deeper purpose, and there's really nothing here you won't have seen before.